2027: Debunking Ebonyi Govt’s Treacherous Half Truths on Zoning

 

By Charles Otu 

 

 

As activities heat up for the 2027 general elections particularly following the emergence of Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii as the Governorship flag-bearer of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP the Nwifuru-led ruling APC government in Ebonyi State has not pretended about its unparalleled apprehension over facing him on the ballot. Whereas the government has arguably failed to even open its own records as contained in a so-called “People’s Charter of Needs” document which should ordinarily serve as it’s Bible in order to even understand or have a clear-cut direction, measuring performance and proffering solutions to its previous campaign promises to Ebonyi people, it has made threats, propaganda, misinformation and half-truths it’s obvious arts in governance.

 

Firstly, it was the same Commissioner for Information, Ikeuwa Omebe – a lawyer by training who has woefully failed to deliver the simplest task of informing the public of the decisions reached at the State’s Executive Council meetings that had recently replied to a Press Interview granted by the PDP candidate, Odii in Lagos that; “He should go to Lagos where he pays tax and contest, whimsically arguing that he (Odii) whose only constitutional requirement and qualification to vie for and occupy the highest political office in the State is that he is a bonafide citizen of the State “has no investments in Ebonyi State” to seek to run for the office of the Governor. While both a reasonable proportion of Ebonyians including the opposition and even his party men and women lampooned him for such an uncanny disposition, especially taking that official position for and on behalf of the government, Omebe has neither retracted his awfully lawless and reckless statement nor retreated from dishing out further half-truths, deliberate misinformation and disinformation or subtle threats to the prospective voters in the State.

 

In another recent statement, Omebe who dreads speaking or reacting to press engagements on issues of (mis) governance in Ebonyi was being clever by half when he recently asserted that; ” _In 2015, the people of Ebonyi North Senatorial Zone, with respect to the zoning arrangement for a harmonious administration on governorship seat of the state, supported Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone governorship candidacy of Chief David Nweze Umahi on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP_ ).”

 

Continuing further in his mischievous trajectory, Omebe claimed that; ” _Though, their son, Chief Edward Nkwegu (EDON) contested the 2015 governorship election under the platform of Labour Party (LP), the people of Ebonyi North Senatorial Zone respected zoning and voted for Chief David Nweze Umahi_ .”

 

May I deposit categorically that the above submissions are not only false, malicious but do not in any way reflect the dilemmas and realities that Ebonyi voters, particularly the good people of Izzi Nnodo Ekumenyi faced during the 2015 Governorship election. While one may not really delve fully into the arguments of the existence of zoning or otherwise since the return to the 4th republic, it is wisdom to categorically state that there has never been any document before the Ebonyi public called “Charter of Equity” either availed by the founding fathers or anyone or group for that matter.

 

In 1999, for instance, Ebonyians are sufficiently aware that the race for the first Executive Governor of the State was clearly a two-horse race between Dr. Sam Egwu of the PDP from Ohaukwu in the Northern Senatorial District of the State and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu in the defunct APP who hailed from the Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone. In the end, Egwu emerged as the first Executive Governor of the State.

 

It is intriguingly instructive to state also that in 2003 while Egwu contested for re-election, it was an Ikwo man (from Ebonyi Central Senatorial zone), Chief Lawrence Nwuruku who vehemently contested against him with an Izzi son, Chief Sylvanus Ngele as his running- mate. In a publication endorsed by a group; Forum For Concerned Citizens of Ebonyi State published in Afikpo Today Magazine Vol. 2, No. 7 (January to June), 2003 edition, the forum had after a damning critique on the Egwu administration “urged all Ebonyians to vote massively for this team of tested democrats shown by their track records”…(that is Nwuruku and Ngele), respectively.

 

In addition, Chief Osuu Oduko from Edda in Ebonyi South who was the APGA Governorship candidate in the same 2003 election compounded the zoning confusion when he argued in an interview with the same Afikpo Today Magazine edition that there was a Charter of Equity drafted by a four-man committee headed by Barr. Okeagu Ogada with Chief Hyacinth Ikpor, Barr. Paulinus Orji-Uzor and himself as members. Oduko had promised just like Nwuruku that if elected, he would “change the economic situation of the ordinary people of Ebonyi State from mere subsistence living to economic buoyancy…”. As a matter of fact, the cover story of the said magazine detailed other candidates in different political parties vying in opposition to the PDP candidates, including some of those who are still relevant in power today

 

Now, the poser for those hiding their gross incompetence and underperformance under the zoning debate is: *Had Egwu lost his re-election bid to the fierce opposition of 2003, would zoning still have been a relevant debate in Ebonyi politics today* ? Your guess and answers are as good as mine! No matter how much the Nwifuru-led administration attempts to force it down the throats of Ebonyi electorates, the truth remains that zoning has neither existed nor been respected in the state since the return of democracy in 1999.

 

We recall that in 2007, Dr. Onu, again contested under ANPP against Chief Martin Elechi in the PDP with the later emerging victorious. When Elechi sought re-election in 2011, Senator Julius Ucha who is from Ebonyi Central zone almost stopped his ambition- winning handsomely in his Ezza enclave and delivering a House of Representatives candidate and two State Assembly members in the 2011 general elections. The 2015 Governorship elections was not anything different and no matter the attempts by Omebe to twist facts, truths and realities, Ebonyi people will not be deceived into believing his lies and half-truths that “Ebonyi North respected zoning arrangement for a harmonious administration on governorship seat of the state, supported Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone governorship candidacy of Chief David Nweze Umahi on the platform of the PDP by rejecting their son, Chief Edward Nkwegu (EDON) who vied for the position against Umahi.”

 

Some of us do not suffer from selective amnesia, not to recall that after the endorsement of Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu failed in 2014, the Elechi government backed by his wife- an Igbojima daughter from Izzi, her elder brother, Senator Chris Nwankwo and indeed other prominent Izzi sons and daughters vehemently supported Nkwegu in the 2015 general elections and later challenged it’s eventual outcome up to the Supreme Court, ostensibly using State funds and every arsenal at the State-backed Labour Party’s disposal. But for divine orchestrations, Umahi almost lost the Governorship seat!

 

Again in 2019, we vividly recall that the race for the APC ticket which was later won by Senator Sunny Ogbuoji of Edda in Ebonyi South was keenly contested by 9 other aspirants including two eminent Izzi sons; the same Edward Nkwegu (EDON) and Chief Austin Edeze with Professor Benard Odoh from Ebonyi Central emerging as a close runner-up in the primary election. Again, Umahi prevailed against a stiff opposition even as Ogbuoji yet had an Izzi man as his running-mate.

 

The 2023 governorship election presented a three-horse race of APC’s Nwifuru, PDP’s Odii and APGA’s Odoh (all of the same age bracket and from the three different Senatorial zones in the State). But Nwifuru who was unarguably the least qualified in terms of education, exposure and competence emerged through the backing of State amidst controversies that the election results did not even reflect the wishes of the majority of Ebonyi voters. It is interesting to note that for Odii, an Izzi son, Edeze was his campaign DG, while his deputy governorship candidate, Senator Igwe Nwagu, hails from Oriuzor, Ezza North in Ebonyi Central Senatorial zone.

 

I have taken time to regal Ebonyians with these fundamental historical memories so that they will not be blackmailed, threatened or misinformed by the harbingers of falsehoods parading themselves with portfolios they can never defend just like their boss- the Governor. The people of Ebonyi South whom this deliberate and obfuscatingly jejune disinformation was directed at must reject these false narratives as thoroughly educated and enlightened people they are- a people who desire a better and functional Ebonyi State that is on the wheels of progress and development.

 

Ebonyi South must not be coerced to take ownership of the project of championing Nwifuru’s re-election in 2027 as “the only way to go for EQUITY” as mischievously opined by Omebe. That would not only be a futile attempt to reinforce failure but will present their education and sufficient exposures as wasted efforts.

 

More so, the call for the support of Afikpo bloc in particular to Nwifuru’s second term ambition so that “they (Afikpo North/South) now actually Afikpo and Edda Federal Constituency “can complete their eight years as Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State” rings dejavu! The people of Afikpo who are the most educated people in Ebonyi understand better that the position of a Deputy Governor of a State under any guise is nothing but a mere spare tyre that cannot bring anything tangible to them especially under a Nwifuru as Governor. Or has Princess Patricia Obila brought or attracted any significant development project to her people of Afikpo that has been in darkness without basic electricity supply for over two decades? Even the Amaozara-Amankwo road leading to her village allegedly awarded to her has remained uncompleted for nearly 3 years.

 

It was a SUN Newspaper Columnist, Archileus-Chud Uchegbu who is incidentally from Ebonyi State that wrote in a recent piece titled: NWIFURU: A GOVERNOR WHO FEARS BALLOT and I wholly concur:

 

“Democracy does not survive on the goodwill of those who hold power. It survives on the willingness of those in power to submit, without coercion or intimidation, to the judgment of the people. Good luck Jonathan, as president, he proved this assertion in 2015.

It is against this basic standard that Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State must be measured; and by that standard, he has failed ”

 

The heart of the deeper mess Ebonyi has been plunged into is the fact that as recounted by Archileus; “Three years into his term, Governor Nwifuru has struggled to answer basic questions about performance. Where are the undisclosed beneficiaries of the state’s overseas scholarship programme? Why does basic education remain in poor condition across the state? Why do two-kilometre road projects across local government areas remain uncompleted years after they were announced? Why were billions budgeted for traditional rulers’ palaces while ordinary infrastructure lags behind? Why is the airline he promised now a matter for voicemail? Why are primary healthcare centres in Ebonyi in a coma? Why are projects delivered by Dave Umahi not being maintained? Why are Ebonyi youths roaming the streets of Nigeria in search of jobs? Why is agriculture in Ebonyi a matter for a campaign?

 

As Archileus had concluded; “A governor who threatens rather than persuades has already conceded, in substance, that he cannot win a free and fair contest of ideas. Rewarding that behaviour with another term would not simply return an underperforming administration to office; it would teach every future officeholder in Ebonyi State and beyond that intimidation is a viable substitute for govern The people of Ebonyi State have the right and the responsibility to reject that lesson decisively at the polls in 2027.”

 

Every election is a referendum on the incumbent and Nwifuru surely knows that he has already failed the people’s referendum by converting the “People’s Charter of Needs” into solving his large family’s numerous basics of needs. The people will speak boldly by rejecting him and his family and associates’ business called governance come 2027! Ebonyi South is too sophisticated to be deceived with illogical narratives of Barr. Ikeuwa Omebe.

 

 

Charles Otu , _a Public Affairs Analyst wrote from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State_